Centennial Lake (Madawaska River, ON)

Amazingly, on October 20th this year, Environment Canada was still forecasting a 20C day! It was also looking like a lovely sunny day with some medium winds. So I loaded up my 14ft Widgeon kayak and headed for Black Donald Lake. Black Donald is a reservoir lake on the Madawaska River southwest of Calabogie. I wanted to explore the less developed SW end of the lake and the Madawaska River's channels towards Centennial Lake. When I got down the lake's west side on Highway 65, I could not locate a suitable launch spot for my kayak. There's a public launch in the middle of Black Donald's west side, but it would have been a long paddle to the SW end. So I opted to go a bit further and get into Centennial Lake instead. Centennial Lake is upriver from Black Donald and also a reservoir lake.

I launched off highway 65 at "Hwy65 LP1" waypoint (Wilson Lake) and paddled under the road into Centennial Lake. Centennial Lake is full of channels, fingers, and islands. I was on Centennial a few years ago with my MYS15, but it will take a few more trips to explore fully. On this trip, I did about 10 km of paddling and managed only to explore a few islands and two of the lake's fingers.

About 1km from highway 65 down the channel from Wilson Lake, there's an island with a campsite (CS1) – a small sandy beach for easy kayak/canoe landing. I had a snack at CS1, and then I made my way towards another campsite that I'd seen on my previous MYS15 trip. The campsite (CS2) was still there, and it looked well used. I had lunch at CS2 and some rest. I spent some time watching two guys in a boat flying some remote model airplanes over the lake. After lunch, I decided to explore one of the fingers of the lake (F1). F1 is about 1.3 km long and comes to a dead end. There wasn't much to see other than trees (mostly pines) and rocks. I did come across a few Canada geese and some ducks. I reversed my route from the dead-end of F1 and paddled back to the launch point and my car. 

It was a great paddle on a beautiful October day! 

Campsite 1 (CS1)

Campsite 2 (CS2)

Ottawa River Provincial Park -- above whitewater

As usual in the fall, I keep looking for 15C+ days for some last season paddling. This year, the Tuesday (Oct 10) after Thanksgiving was looking pretty good (20C and sunny)! So I headed for the Ottawa River Provincial Park area above the whitewater river section (a few km below La Passe, ON). I had been in this area twice before – MYS15 (2010) and SP21 (2008).

This area of the river from La Passe to Sullivan Island is not great sailing (too narrow, shallow waters, islands/rocks, etc.) and is better to explore by kayak or canoe. A few islands (Big, Butternut, and Cedar) are part of the Ottawa River Provincial Park (un-managed). La Passe has a boat ramp, and I have used the ramp for the SP and MYS15. For canoe and kayak outings, I prefer to launch on the Ontario side across from Butternut Island at the end of Put-In Trail off Grants Settlement Road (45°45'20.81" N; 76°47'37.34" W).

For this trip, I was paddling my 14ft Widgeon kayak. After launching at Put in Trail, I headed upriver, hugging the Ontario shore. I squeezed past Butternut and Sawlog islands and paddled upriver beyond Big Island before crossing over to the Quebec side. After a bit of poking around, I found the bottom entrance to the big shallow bay on the Quebec side. I explored the bay for an hour or so and made a stop for a bio break and snack. The bay is pretty weedy and shallow – so nice shore landing spots are at a premium.

After snack, I headed back to the main river channel and made my way towards the control dam (Barrage du Rocher Fendu). I followed narrow channels along the Quebec side behind a group of small islands. Close to the control dam on a prominent rocky point, I went ashore for lunch and a break. After lunch, I made my way around the large Sullivan Island (private) and back to the Put-in Trail launch point.

I had my fishing rod and tried for bass throughout the trip but did not catch any fish and had very few nibbles. For today's nature sightings, I observed quite a few Canada Geese on the water and a small flock of noisy birds.

It's an excellent spot for a day paddle, but hopefully, the fishing would be better next time!

Schooner Lake, North Frontenac (camping)

After hearing from multiple sources that Schooner Lake was spectacular, I decided to make it my destination for a short 2-day camping trip. My camping/fishing partner (John Verbaas) was keen, so we made quick preparations and hesitantly headed out early on June 26th (Monday). Hesitantly – since the weather forecast was not looking the best and a wet June would bring out the mosquitoes!

After a pit stop in Almonte for coffee (Equator), we made it to the Schooner Lake access by 11 am or so. The back road into Schooner Lake is excellent and is about a 30-minute drive from Highway 509. The turn-off from 509 to Mountain Road is next to the Home Hardware in Plevna.

Schooner Lake is two lakes connected by a narrow channel – Long and Round Schooner. The access is at the south end of Long Schooner, and our campsite was on Round Schooner - so we had a bit of paddling to do. It was a great morning to be traversing Long Schooner. It was a bit cool for late June, but we had some sun and a light breeze. We fished the western shoreline of Long Schooner but no luck. Long Schooner is about 3 km long and has four islands toward the northern half.

Once you turn west into the inter-lake channel, you start to see the impressive rocky cliffs that make Round Schooner so spectacular. The cliffs must be 200ft in height along the channel and on the northern side of Round Schooner Lake.

We settled on campsite #8 and had some lunch. After lunch, John got a nice size smallmouth bass casting from the campsite shore. A good thing -- since that would turn out to be the only decent size fish we would catch on the whole trip. Schooner Lake is known to have Lake Trout (stocked), bass, walleye, and pike. But, over two days of casting and trolling, we caught mostly rock bass!

The rain mostly held off on Monday until the evening, and then it wasn’t enough to impact our dinner time. Also, to our great surprise, mosquitoes were MIA! We enjoyed a great dinner by the campfire (bass fillet, rice, corn-on-the-cob, wine, etc.). After dinner, we did try for some quiet late evening fishing, but the rainstorm started to make a comeback, so we retreated to the campsite. In the end, not much happen, and we had a great evening by the campfire. Parts of the sky did eventually clear up and allowed for a bit of stargazing!

We started Tuesday morning by going out on the lake for some fishing – nothing except more rock bass. After a big breakfast, we packed up the camp and started heading back. As soon as we began paddling, a storm came through, and we took shelter onshore. The storm pattern repeated itself a few more times on our way out. The weather would change every hour – dark clouds and rolling thunder, then some rain, then some sun, and then repeat. On the way, we mostly fished around the islands and boulders in the channel, but there was no action. The 3 km paddle across Long Schooner was against a moderate breeze but nothing too scary. It was around 3 pm when we loaded our gear in the car and started the 2-hour drive back to Almonte.

It was a great trip overall, except for the fishing.  Round Schooner Lake is a lake that I plan to try out again in the future.  A fall trip (late September) would be ideal here.

The Township of North Frontenac manages the camping reservations for these Frontenac crown-land lakes. Click the "North Frontenac camping" link below.

North Frontenac camping

Govan Lake -- a day trip from Almonte

For the last 15 years or so, North Frontenac's municipality has been managing wilderness camping in the Madawaska Highlands. All the lakes operated by North Frontenac are on crown-land, and there are various road access grades. 

Click here for - North Frontenac Park Lands

For an adventure, I decided to spend a day exploring the Govan Lake area. Govan is probably the most remote and most challenging lake to reach. From the main road (Hwy 509), it's 21.5 km to Govan Lake. The distance and time on the access road are as follows:

  Highway 509 to Redhorse = 12 km (approx. 20 min)

  Highway 509 to Mair = 17 km (approx. 30 min)

  Highway 509 to Govan = 22 km (approx. 50 min)

The road is rough and slow, especially between Redhorse and Govan. An AWD vehicle with high clearance is more suitable on these roads.

My first stop was at Redhorse Lake for a paddle and a bit of fishing. Redhorse is a beautiful lake but has a few cottages in the back bay. While trolling, I did get two large size pikes on my line. Most lakes in the area have pike, bass, and walleye.

Pike in Redhorse

Redhorse Lake, Madawaska Highlands

After a few hours at Redhorse, I loaded my canoe and started on the long/slow drive to Govan Lake. I checked out the access to Mair Lake on the way but did not have time to explore. Mair Lake is supposedly stocked with splake trout.

I did reach Govan Lake without any issues. After chatting with a North Frontenac ranger, I got the canoe in the water and headed across the lake to find a campsite (#4) for a quiet lunch. Govan is a lovely small lake with many islands and channels. The lake's central part is about 1.25 km by 2 km, but the islands and finger channels would provide lots of shoreline for fishing. Campsite #8 looks pretty good, but I did not explore too many sites on this trip. I did not have time to explore any of the finger channels. While paddling around, I trolled a spoon for pike but did not get any hits.

Around 3 pm, I started driving home from the Govan Lake access. I was in Almonte by 4:45 pm. It was a great day!  Redhorse Lake (and Granite L.) could be a day trip from Almonte,  but Govan Lake makes a long day – probably better for an overnight camping trip.

Galetta on the Mississippi River

This year, it was May 21st before I got the Widgeon out for a paddle due to a spring trip to PEI in April and an Algonquin Park fishing trip in early May. On this overcast Sunday morning, I headed towards Arnprior, still trying to figure out where might be a good spot for a leisurely paddle. Two weeks ago, the Ottawa River was exceptionally high (major flood) and would still be dangerous to cross in most places. So Black Bay was out, so I went to check crossing to the Lac des Chats islands/bays at Braeside -- but with an east wind and currents, I decided it wasn’t a good idea either. In the end, I decided to put into the Mississippi River at the old Highway 17 bridge and go downriver. It would have adequate protection from an east wind, and the current appeared reasonably slow.

The put-in at the bridge is excellent for a canoe or kayak, and I was soon on my way. This section of the Mississippi River (to Galetta) is a mixture of forested areas, fields, and homes. The distance to Galetta is just over 4 km and was a leisurely paddle with the current and a light crosswind. Most of the fauna observed were birds and one beaver. The Red-winged Blackbird was the most popular bird, but other birds observed were Canada geese, Mallard ducks, Blue heron, swallows, and even a pair of cormorants.

Once in Galetta, I was careful not to venture too close to the fast currents and rapids. I took a break on some rocks across the river from the Galetta slaughterhouse. The return paddle upriver took a bit longer due to the mild current, especially in some narrow river sections.

This section of the Mississippi River is an OK paddle for exercise but not too exciting. It would be better to paddle the more isolated section from Galetta to the Ottawa River on the lower Mississippi. 

I need to investigate further the Mississippi River access at Galetta and Morris Island.

Allan Lake, Algonquin Park - May 2017

For some years now, John and I have gone to Algonquin Park in early May for some trout fishing and camping. It was great to head out this year since we missed out on the annual trip last year (2016) due to my cancer treatments. Our trip planning is all about picking the right weather window for a four-day trip and deciding where to go. The “where to go” decision is not much work anymore since we have pretty much settled on alternating between Allan/North Depot Lakes or the North River Lake area. Both of these are on the north side of the park and easily accessible off Brent Road. For food, I usually bring the supply for breakfasts and lunches, and John has the tricky job of bringing back-up dinners in case the trout eludes us. 

Day 1 (Wednesday, May 10th)

This year, we decided on Allan Lake as our camping destination. It's about a 2.5-hour drive to the park office on Brent Road and then another half hour to the put-in on Wendigo Lake (access #25). We left Dunrobin reasonably early (8 am or so) and made our usual two stops on the way. The first in Arnprior for coffee/breakfast (McDonald), and the second in Deep River for worms (Canadian Tire). We got to the access point around noon, loaded the canoe, and headed south towards Allan Lake. Lucky for us, it was a beautiful sunny calm day – much easier to paddle the 2.5 km down Wendigo Lake to the Allan Lake portage. We did try some fishing (mostly trolling) in Wendigo, but no luck as usual. The portage (180 m) into Allan Lake was no problem – although it did take three trips to bring all our supply across! 

Back in the canoe and bang -- John had a good size trout on his line! It turns out that the fast running water coming into Allan Lake was a great spot for brookies. With the anticipation of trout for dinner, we headed down/south on Allan Lake to find a campsite. We took the second site on the lake's east side, behind the islands and across the lake from the North River rapids. Allan Lake is 2.5 km long and 0.5 km wide at the most. The lake's attractive features are the two islands, numerous small bays, and a set of rapids on the west side (i.e. the North River entrance). The south end of the lake has the 255 m portage into North Depot Lake.

After a late lunch, we did go out fishing at the North River rapids – where we had success in the past. But today, the rapids had nothing to offer, so we moved on – casting and trolling up and down the west side of the lake. John finally managed to get a second trout at the Wendigo portage (the same spot as the first one he got earlier as we came in).

A beautiful day and trout for our first dinner – it doesn't get much better than that in Algonquin Park!

Day 2 (Thursday)

It was a cold night (maybe dipped to 0C), but I had enough layers to stay warm. For the first time, I tried an air mattress under my therma pad. The combination worked great to keep me warm and comfortable.

The lake was very calm in the morning, so John went off for some solo fishing before breakfast. He didn’t have much luck until he was almost back to the campsite – where at a few hundred meters from the shore, he landed a nice 18” lake trout. We had dinner in the bag, and it was only 9 am!

After breakfast, we reluctantly left the lake trout tied to shore and headed south for N. Depot Lake and the lower N. River. The water was high, so we were able to shoot the rapids into N. Depot Lake. We had no luck fishing the fast water entering N. Depot Lake, so we made our way (casting and trolling) down the 4 km lake. No fish. We decided to make the 770m portage into the lower North River, which is always an excellent area to explore and fish. Finally, down about 1.2km on the N. River (a rocky ledge point) from the portage, John got a hit on a large brook trout. We had to let it go since this large trout would be too much with the big laker we had back at the campsite. John went on to catch two more brookies at that rocky ledge fishing hole, and we kept one small one to take home for dinner.  

We had a late lunch at the rocky ledge before making the journey back to the campsite. I was pretty tired from the day’s paddling (15 km) and portaging (1.7 km) – even though it was a nice calm day (definitely getting older)!

For dinner, John had the challenge of cooking the large 18” laker and the smaller brook trout. He did manage to do it in a frying pan with some aluminum foil as a cover. It was interesting to have both kinds of Algonquin trout side-by-side to compare taste and texture. The lake trout is good, but it’s hard to beat the smaller brook trout for texture and sweetness.

Day 3 (Friday)

Friday morning was another calm day on Allan Lake. After a coffee and muffin, we decided to get on the lake for some morning fishing before breakfast. Again, we had no luck at the N. River rapids or the west side of the lake – so we moved to the north end of the lake (Wendigo portage rapids) and then along the east side. After a few hours, we returned to our campsite for brunch with a couple of trout. Before our full breakfast, we had fresh pan-fried trout on toasted bagels for appetizers – which was very tasty!  

We were out again fishing in Allan Lake for the afternoon and finished the day with three trout anchored ashore at our campsite (including John’s second lake trout). We decided to skip the trout for dinner, and instead, we dined on a sausage-based recipe that John cooked up. After two nights of trout dinners, it was yummy, especially with a glass or two of red wine!

Our site was pretty bare of firewood, so we brought some over from across the lake. Each night, we had a campfire for extra warmth and enjoyed the evening (a little sip of brandy didn’t hurt either).

Day 4 (Saturday)

We had some light rain overnight, and it did continue on/off through the day on Saturday. After breakfast, we took down and packed most of our campsite. Then, we went out for a bit of fishing and returned a few hours later with another 14” brook trout to add to our take-home collection (complements of master fishermen Verbaas).

John cleaned the four take-home trout, and we put them at the bottom of the canoe to keep cool (in plastic bags). After a few obligatory fish photos, we finished our packing and were on our way. We had a quick lunch at the Wendigo portage and then a straight paddle in light winds and rain to the access point. 

The ride home was uneventful. The only stop was in Deep River for some ice (Canadian Tire) and a burger (Burger King). We arrived in Dunrobin around 8 pm.

Another great Algonquin trip and one of the best for trout fishing!

Trip summary:

    o Allan Lake, May 10 – 13, 2017
    o Great weather on Wed, Thur, and Fri (some light rain on Sat)
    o First night was the coldest (may have dipped to 0C)
    o Caught 13 trout overall (including 2 lakers)

o   10 for John;  3 for Denis

o   Brookies up to 14”

o   Both lakers were 18”

          o On average, the campsites on Allan and N. Depot lakes were 50% occupied
          o The wildlife was pretty scares (or very shy) 
          o Can’t think of anything to change or bring on next trip (perfect).

More pics from Allan Lake 2017.